​LaPlaine Village Councillor and Chairman of the LaPlaine Disaster Committee, Jason Fontaine has sent a strong warning to the MP for the LaPlaine Constituency, Former Pastor and Education Minister Peter St. Jean, for his alleged interference in the procedures which guide the operation of aid agencies in Dominica.
 
Fontaine has accused St Jean of politicizing relief efforts of ISRA Aid. He spoke to Q95 news on March 26, 2018.

LaPlaine Village Councillor and Chairman of the LaPlaine Disaster Committee, Jason Fontaine. 

Pm Roosevelt Skerrit has confirmed that a US$3M grant from the World Bank which was set to go to small businesses was reallocated to address road conditions in the east.

​He says the decision to reallocate the funds to the east was discussed and approved by his cabinet.

Pm Roosevelt Skerrit

​According to reports, Dominica’s Agriculture Minister, Johnson Drigo, is seeking to assure Dominicans that the 10 Jacko and 2 Sisserou parrots that were recently taken from the Parrot Aviary in the Botanic Gardens to Germany, will eventually be returned to the island.
 
The recent secret export of the National birds caused a major uproar among the Dominican public, due to the lack of public knowledge on the matter. The government has since stated that they were taken to a facility in a European country, to facilitate the breeding of the endangered species, since its habitat was severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Maria, on September 18, 2018.
 
Dominica’s Agriculture Minister gave the assurance that the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), is “recognized” by other Caribbean countries such as St Lucia and St Vincent for captive breeding, and “it was only Dominica’s turn to look at that option, considering the impact of Maria on our birds.”
 
He continued further saying, “Hopefully they will breed in captivity and we will be successful in the captive breeding program and all of our birds will be back, and they will be released into the wild.”
 
Drigo has also denied the recent reports on the birds by IFAW, and some local officials within his ministry as gossip. He was speaking in an interview with Marpin Channel Five News, recently.

​An Italian oil and gas exploration company could be the new kid on the block if the Guyana government gives it the go-ahead to carry out exploration offshore.
 
ENI is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It is considered one of the world’s largest publicly owned oil and gas companies, also known as a supermajor. It operates in 79 countries and is currently the world’s eleventh largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 68 billion euros.
 
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman yesterday met the company’s Senior Vice President, Guido Zappala and his team at the Natural Resources Ministry, where he received a packaged plan of action from the company’s representatives. 

Thousands of Syrian rebel fighters and civilians are being bussed from Eastern Ghouta after two rebel groups reached a withdrawal deal with the Syrian Government.
 
The enclave is close to the capital, Damascus, and residents – who have lived under siege for five years – have suffered intense bombardment by Russian-backed Syrian Government forces in recent weeks.
 
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described conditions there as "hell on earth".

Dominican Political Scientist Alex Bruno has responded to Attorney and DLP supporter Anthony Astaphan has accused Mr. Bruno of being beholden to UWP Leader Lennox Linton.
 
According to Astaphan, some year ago, Linton secured a loan of $50,000 dollars to assist Alex Bruno’s group to travel to Africa for a performance. Astaphan claims no one would do that for someone they do not trust, and sought to discredit Bruno’s scientific polls which he conducted sometime a back

Attorney and DLP supporter Anthony Astaphan, Astaphan made those comments over the weekend.
 
On 26th March 2018, Bruno responded to Astaphan’s statement, saying that he knows Lennox Linton, however the help which Linton provided in 2007 was genuine, and was not given as a favor on the basis of friendship.

​Dominican Political Scientist Alex Bruno

Founder and Executive Director of Help Unite Giving Souls (HUGS) Chris McGilvery says his organization is committed to effectively assisting Dominican students, for many year to come.
 
While speaking to Q95 news in an exclusive interview on Monday, Mr. McGilvery said he developed HUGS in 2011, specifically to assist the Children of Dominica.

​Meantime, the Give More Hugs Foundation is looking to train Dominicans to become Give More Hugs Ambassadors. He say the foundation is targeting young people who would impact their communities.

McGilvery is also a member of the Pollination project which assist in provide US$1,000 in grant funding for non-profit organizations to impact their communities.

​Chris McGilvery

Leader of the United Workers Party Lennox Linton has cleared the air on rumours that he wrote the World Bank telling them to refrain from giving the Government of Dominica grant money for Dominica’s small business owners.
 
According to reports, Dominica’s Cabinet met recently and within themselves decided to use the funds for construction purposes rather than for its intended purpose, speaking to Q95 FM on Tuesday, Lennox Linton had this to say:

Leader of the United Workers Party Lennox Linton
 
Meantime, Finance Minister and Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, while speaking to DBS news on 27th March 2018, gave an official report of what his Government decided to do with the funds provided by the World Bank, which was initially intended to assist small business owners her.

The Prime Minister says the World Bank does not decide what happens in Dominica, his cabinet or in Government, adding that the reallocation of funds initially intended to assist small business owners, has now been reallocated to the DVRP. He says this is an expressed decision by the cabinet of Dominica.

Finance Minister Roosevelt Skerrit

Director of Telecoms Bennett Thomas has urged telecommunication providers to use the opportunity presented as a result of hurricane Maria to expand and enhance telecommunication services and infrastructure in Dominica.
 
He says it is now obvious that telecommunications and the role of ICT in disaster mitigation has to take centre stage in recovery efforts as the country builds back better.

Director of Telecoms Bennett Thomas

​Minister for Education Petter St Jean says the date for the grade 6 National Assessment has been moved to June.
He says following the passage of Hurricane Maria, students were unable to attend school for some time, and when they did, they attended for less hours.

Minister for Education Petter St Jean
He says further that schools are expected to resume normal operations in the new school term. They should also attend in uniform. He says in the vent that there are students unable to wear their uniform it should be brought to the attention of the relevant authority at  the school.